The King of Digital Art

In a conference room at Handsome, one of the largest fashion companies in South Korea, Steven Sacks, wearing an Etro suit and a Burberry tie - trademark furls of blond hair spilling from either side of his head - is trying to explain the nuances of the art business to Chung Jae-Bong, the president. "I will call up some key collectors before an art fair happens and say, 'You should buy this,' and without even seeing the piece, they'll buy it," Sacks says. "Twice it's happened with this one collector - and he nearly doubled his money in three days."

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Mr. Chung, as he is always addressed, listens carefully, his eyes focused intensely on Sacks. This is the first time they've met, so it's a feeling-out, a getting-to-know-your-business-model sit-down.

Sacks is the founder of bitforms, a New York-based gallery devoted exclusively to what has been variously termed new media art, digital art, interactive art, and software art. He came to Seoul at the behest of Mr. Chung, who took a small garment manufacturing company and turned it into a fashion design, retail, and real estate empire. Now among Korea's wealthiest businessmen, Mr. Chung wants Sacks to open a branch of bitforms inside Mue, his upscale clothing boutique in Seoul. "I need to understand the viability of having a gallery in your space," Sacks says. "Just like you, I've built a brand, and I want to make sure it stays at a high level."

Bitforms first caught Mr. Chung's attention last year, when Sacks sold an ensemble of artwork to the W Seoul Walkerhill Hotel. The centerpiece of that collection is a 6- by 12-foot mural version of New York artist Daniel Rozin's Wooden Mirror, a work that uses a hidden camera and custom software to carefully tilt 1,500 wooden "pixels" to reflect the viewer's image.

"When something happens in Korea, Mr. Chung has to be the first one through the door," says Grace Jung Yeon Yang, a Handsome consultant serving as translator, as we depart in Mr. Chung's Mercedes SK 500 after the meeting. When the W opened, she explains, he was impressed by its novel use of digital artwork. Mr. Chung had been casting about for a gallery to house within Mue, she says, and when he saw the works displayed in the W, he saw a match. "It was something he thought was fresh."

The W deal epitomizes Sacks' ambition to bring new kinds of art to new kinds of people in new kinds of places. He's an evangelist of electronic art, forever touting his stable of artists, riffing on "interactive screen-based experiences," and brimming with plans for new ways to exhibit digital art. He's also changing how art is sold. In August, for example, Sacks launched his "software art space" Web site. For around $100, customers can purchase unlimited-edition software artwork by artists he represents. Sacks plans to start with eight to ten titles. Each work will come in a specially designed CD-ROM package.

Later in the day, Mr. Chung takes Sacks to tour the Mue store, in the modish neighborhood of Cheongdam-dong. Inside, the racks are minimally adorned with pricey clothing by designers like Balenciaga and Viktor & Rolf. Sacks walks the perimeter of the vacant third floor, which is larger than his gallery in Chelsea, and because he has already studied the blueprints beforehand, he seems more familiar with the space than Mr. Chung, who owns more real estate than he can remember. Mr. Chung takes him to the roof, which Sacks instantly sees as perfect for art openings - and more. "You could do projection work onto these other buildings," Sacks says. "You'd need permission, of course. Unless you own them." Mr. Chung smiles.

"What does he want?" Sacks asks Yang later. "Does he want it to be a support for Mue, something that's connected to that environment? Or is he looking for it be a business? The business side of it is not volume, like fashion. I just want to articulate to Mr. Chung in a way that he'll understand."

"This is how he explained it to me," Yang responds. "We were in his office and he said, 'Do you think I would like to have a brand in a department store, or would I like to own the department store?' I said, 'Mr. Chung, you'd like to own the department store. Rather than commissioning [a piece of digital art], why don't we do bitforms Seoul?'"

"He's not owning," Sacks interjects.

"Of course," demurs Yang.

Bitforms Seoul, Sacks' only gallery outside Manhattan, will open in September. It's remarkable for a New York art shop to have such a far-flung outpost - even more so for a young gallery selling nontraditional art. "Since there is not much of a market for digital art, there are very few galleries," says Christiane Paul, adjunct curator of new media at the Whitney Museum in New York. "There is really nothing comparable to bitforms in its emphasis on software art."

What little market there may be, Sacks hopes to explode open. Just before his trip to Seoul, he attended the ARCO, an annual art fair in Madrid. "It was a huge success; we sold a lot of work," he says, sitting in his gallery, next to an occasionally chirping sculpture by German artist Peter Vogel made from old transistors. "I brought Danny Rozin's Wooden Mirror - it was like the Mona Lisa. I had to hire a person to manage the crowd. To me, there was just this huge evolutionary moment in the way people were looking at art." Sacks sold editions of the mirror to a Spanish museum and a Spanish foundation (Sprint and RadioShack have also purchased versions). The price: $120,000 and rising. Last year, bitforms topped $1 million in revenue from reselling and consignment.

Monumental digital art is becoming a popular choice for public places. Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain was an instant crowd favorite when it opened last year in Chicago's Millennium Park. The San Jose airport recently announced a public art competition that will include "newer forms of visual, digital and information media (digital print, software art, robotics, interactive installations, multiuser installations, etc.)." Meanwhile, in cities like Seoul and Berlin, LED panels and screens are being wrapped around buildings, sometimes to form entire exteriors.